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Eliana Lopez smiles as she sees her husband San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi and supporters from a distance before the start of the San Francisco Ethics Committee hearing at the San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, July 18, 2012. Lopez was scheduled to testify at the ongoing hearing on whether her husband should be removed from office following his guilty plea of false imprisonment stemming from an incident with her on New Year's Eve. (Ray Chavez/Staff)

Eliana Lopez pauses as she is questioned at the ongoing San Francisco Ethics Committee hearing at the San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, July 18, 2012. Lopez was scheduled to testify at the ongoing hearing on whether her husband San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi should be removed from office following his guilty plea of false imprisonment stemming from an incident with her on New Year's Eve. (Ray Chavez/Staff)

Eliana Lopez pauses as she is questioned at the ongoing San Francisco Ethics Committee hearing at the San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, July 18, 2012. Lopez was scheduled to testify at the ongoing hearing on whether her husband San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi should be removed from office following his guilty plea of false imprisonment stemming from an incident with her on New Year's Eve. (Ray Chavez/Staff)

Suspended San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, center, is interviewed after a recess from the San Francisco Ethics Committee hearing at the San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, July 18, 2012. Mirkarimi's wife Eliana Lopez was scheduled to testify at the ongoing hearing on whether he should be removed from office following a guilty plea of false imprisonment stemming from an incident with his wife on New Year's Eve. (Ray Chavez/Staff)

Suspended San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, left, listens to San Francisco Deputy City attorney Sherri Kaiser, right, asking questions to witness Linette Peralta Haynes, on screen, during the San Francisco Ethics Committee hearing at the San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, July 18, 2012. Mirkarimi's wife Eliana Lopez was scheduled to testify at the ongoing hearing on whether he should be removed from office following a guilty plea of false imprisonment stemming from an incident with his wife on New Year's Eve. (Ray Chavez/Staff)

Eliana Lopez, right, wife of suspended San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, arrives at the San Francisco Ethics Committee room at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, July 18, 2012. Lopez was scheduled to testify at the ongoing hearing on whether her husband should be removed from office following his guilty plea of false imprisonment stemming from an incident with her on New Year's Eve. (Ray Chavez/Staff)

SAN FRANCISCO — Eliana Lopez and her embattled husband, Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, have talked about divorcing but not reached a decision whether to end their three-year marriage, Lopez said Wednesday night to the city Ethics Commission that’s mulling over whether he should be kicked out of office for bruising her.

“I’m not looking for divorce right now,” she testified. “We are a family. Even though we are apart, we make all decisions together.”

Those joint decisions have included her and her son’s stay in her native Venezuela since March 25, she said. The telenovela and movie star said her husband’s suspension from his sheriff’s job was part of her motivation for returning to her homeland, where she can find work and keep her living costs low.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee charged Mirkarimi with official misconduct in March, after the sheriff pleaded guilty to misdemeanor false imprisonment in connection with a New Year’s Eve altercation that left Lopez’s arm bruised. The commission will make a recommendation on Mirkarimi’s fate to the Board of Supervisors, which ultimately will vote on whether Mirkarimi, 50, should lose his job.

Lopez, 36, said when her current travel authorization expires next month, “we will make the decision as a family, together” about what to do next.

“Maybe at that moment he is a sheriff again, so we can come back,” she added.

Lopez acknowledged that custody of their 3-year-old son, Theo, would be a big concern for her if she and Mirkarimi decide to divorce. She said she believes Mirkarimi would have the upper hand because he’s a U.S. citizen, as is their son.

She said she never thought Mirkarimi’s elected position gave him power to take their son away from her, and she denied that he told her so, even though she’d said so in a videotape made by a neighbor.

Lopez said neighbor Ivory Madison, who shot that now-notorious video of a tearful Lopez’s bruised arm, warned her that an “old boys network” would help Mirkarimi keep their son in the event of a divorce and encouraged her to preserve evidence of the altercation.

“I don’t want Ross taking my son away from me, in the same way that I would never take Theo away from him,” Lopez testified.

It was an argument over traveling to Venezuela with Theo that led to the altercation that left her bruised, she said.

Lopez testified that he used a profanity and she told him not to talk to her that way, and he apologized, but the argument continued as their toddler sat in the back seat of their car.

Lopez didn’t take the witness stand until late Wednesday night, so her testimony will resume at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Testimony from Mirkarimi’s 2011 campaign manager, Linnette Peralta Haynes, took up almost all of Wednesday’s session. Haynes testified that Lopez told her on the morning of Jan. 4 about the New Year’s Eve incident.

Deputy City Attorney Sherri Kaiser questioned Haynes at length about several phone calls between Haynes and Lopez later that day, each of which was closely followed by an email from Lopez to Madison and another neighbor, Callie Williams, asking them not to talk to police about the incident.

Haynes denied having counseled Lopez to send those emails or having helped her draft them. She said the only advice she gave Lopez was that she and Mirkarimi should seek separate legal counsel.

“I believe no one should ever lay hands on anyone, and everyone should be responsible for what they do,” Haynes said, adding that Mirkarimi was wrong to bruise Lopez.

But Haynes said she listened to and believes Lopez, and believes police, prosecutors and journalists who pursued the case didn’t have Lopez’s safety, wishes and best interests at heart.

Haynes testified that all she ever wanted to do was support Lopez, regardless of her professional relationship with Mirkarimi. So, she said, it’s been difficult to hear accusations that she engaged in a cover-up on Mirkarimi’s behalf.

Mirkarimi, a San Francisco supervisor from 2005 until his election as sheriff in November, hadn’t even been sworn in when he had the altercation with Lopez. He was sentenced to one day in his own jail, three years of probation, one year of domestic-violence counseling, 100 hours of community service and a fine.

Lopez said she flew in Monday night from Venezuela, where she owns a home and has family — including her father, who recently had major surgery. She said she has begun rehearsals and will start shooting her latest movie in Venezuela next week. The project, she said, will last a few weeks.

Lopez’s attorney, Paula Canny, last month had said her client was willing to testify in person only if the city would foot the bill for her travel. But ultimately, Lopez’s airfare was paid by a group of private donors.

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